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Volume 6, Number 16 17 April 1989
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| _ |
| / \ |
| /|oo \ |
| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
| _`@/_ \ _ |
| International | | \ \\ |
| FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) |
| Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// |
| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
| (jm) |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Editor in Chief: Vince Perriello
Editors Emeritii: Dale Lovell
Thom Henderson
Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
Contributing Editors: Al Arango
FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet
Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to
submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission
standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from
node 1:1/1. 1:1/1 is a Continuous Mail system, available for
network mail 24 hours a day.
Copyright 1989 by the International FidoNet Association. All
rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for
noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances,
please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067. IFNA may also be contacted
at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141.
Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of
Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and
are used with permission.
We don't necessarily agree with the contents of every article
published here. Most of these materials are unsolicited. No
article will be rejected which is properly attributed and legally
acceptable. We will publish every responsible submission
received.
Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2
Announcement of Eurocon III 1989 ......................... 2
GATEWAY '89 .............................................. 4
New version of PAKIT, a utility for oMMM users ........... 11
3. COLUMNS .................................................. 15
The Veterinarian's Corner: Feline Leukemia ............... 15
Notes From Bureaucracy South ............................. 17
4. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 19
Latest Software Versions ................................. 19
And more!
FidoNews 6-16 Page 1 17 Apr 1989
=================================================================
EDITORIAL
=================================================================
Hello there. I've been meaning to write a little something here
for several weeks now and just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe
next week I'll find the time.
The major reason that I decided to key in anything at all this week
was to let you know that next week we will publish responses to the
Policy4 issue of FidoNews. As it appears that these responses are
on the LONG side, the odds are that we won't publish any other
articles next week, though whether we publish columns or not will
be a function of how much space the articles take up.
Thanks for reading this rag. I think it's a pretty good one. By
the way, feel free to help keep it that way by sending along some
material for publication.
Cheers,
Vince
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-16 Page 2 17 Apr 1989
=================================================================
ARTICLES
=================================================================
Announcement of Eurocon III 1989.
At Eurocon II European sysops have agreed that some sort of
central European organization should be formed which should
control or administer European FidoNet. Several committees have
been appointed to draft proposals for such an organization. As
the committees have nearly concluded their work we wish to invite
you to take part in the process of whether or not to form a
European organization.
The principal idea is to establish an organization which could be
named European FidoNet Association, or EFNA. It would not be
meant as a separation from International FidoNet but as an
organization which would represent Zone 2 FidoNet sysops in IFNA.
Thus we would have a start in reorganizing IFNA in which e.g.
American FNA, European FNA and Oceanic FNA would take part.
To discuss the proposals, we are organizing a conference called
EuroCon III in the weekend of May 19, 20 and 21 in Eindhoven, The
Netherlands. We are currently in the process of inviting some
introducing speakers. Apart from the official part of the
conference we are organizing an interesting tour. Also, the
Dutch HCC and PCC are inviting you to a drink on Thursday
evening.
The main theme at EuroCon III will be "Democracy and European
FidoNet".
Attached you will find a registration form. The filled in form
can be sent to: Hans Ligthelm of 2:500/30, or Joop Mellaart of
2:512/0. (If you have a problem with the nodelist: Joop's AKA is
2:2/1)
We have tried to offer you excellent hotel accomodations for a
reasonable price. The reservation procedure has changed a bit
but price and quality are the same as in 1988.
We hope to meet a lot of you so that we can have a succesful
European conference.
Cheers, Peter. (Secretary of the EuroCon III organization
committee)
----------------------------------------------------------------
EUROCON III REGISTRATION FORM
----------------------------------------------------------------
Name:
Address:
FidoNews 6-16 Page 3 17 Apr 1989
City:
Country:
Phone (voice):
Phone (node):
FidoNet address:
Thursday: May 18th
Dinner/Room/Breakfast @ Dfl 110 yes/no Dfl ......
Friday : May 19th
Lunch @ Dfl 17.50 yes/no Dfl ......
Dinner/Room/Breakfast @ Dfl 110 yes/no Dfl ......
Saturday: May 20th
Lunch @ Dfl 17.50 yes/no Dfl ......
Dinner/Room/Breakfast @ Dfl 110 yes/no Dfl ......
Sunday : May 21st
Lunch @ Dfl 17.50 yes/no Dfl ......
Dinner/Room/Breakfast @ Dfl 110 yes/no Dfl ......
Conference Fee ............................... Dfl 40.-
Late registration Fee (after APRIL 15th)
@ Dfl 100.-............... Dfl ......
----------+
Total ........................................ Dfl ......
I agree to share my room with: ......................... (name)
(subtract Dfl 37.50 per night) Dfl ......
----------
Amount due ................................... Dfl ......
I am alone but I want to try to arrange for a roommate:...yes/no
I am:................................................male/female
My roommate must be:............smoker/non-smoker/doesn't matter
City:
Date:
Please sign:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-16 Page 4 17 Apr 1989
GATEWAY '89
VISCOUNT HOTEL - QUEENS, NEW YORK - APRIL 28-30, 1989
Telephone Number (516) 678-7180
Conferences will be available through out the duration of the
convention. Tickets for individual seminars will be available
during the convention at a first come, first serve basis. Tickets
for forums sponsored by corporations having booths at GATEWAY '89
will have tickets available at their booths. Contact the
individual exhibitor for further information and details.
SCHEDULE Friday - April 28,1989
12 pm - Opening & Welcome Speeches
1 pm - Gary Saxer - Technical Director - Quarterdeck Systems
The Future of DOS - Will You Be Forced To Abandon It?
DOS has become the most popular operating system on the planet
Earth. Millions of people use it every day. Now OS/2 and Unix are
being offered to PC users to enhance the capabilities of their
computers. Do you need to change? Maybe not. This seminar will
cover how DOS can be used far into the future. There are ways to
get DOS to manage almost all of the features of these other
operating systems, and yet still use much of the hardware and
software you ave today. Find out how DOS can be improved,
expanded, and extended.
2-______________________________________________________________
3 pm - Eric Brown - Senior Executive Editor - PC World Magazine
Eric Brown, well known in the Personal Computer Industry will be
addressing the Gateway VAR seminar regarding LANs and electronic
communications in regard to local E-mail (electronic mail) systems
and gateways. Through the extensive work which Eric has been doing
with PC World Magazine he brings a refreshing and vital conference
to Gateway '89.
4 pm - Andre Peterson - Cofounder of WordPerfect Corporation
Andre Peterson will be addressing the Consultants and VAR
Conference at GATEWAY '89 on the various products and enhancements
of WordPerfect Corporation. As on of the leaders at one of the
most successful software corporations in the industry, Mr.
Peterson, will be presenting many of the successful products of the
WordPerfect Corporation, along with in depth details on their
utilizations to the fullest.
5 pm - John Nels - Eastern Regional Director - Intel Corporation
FidoNews 6-16 Page 5 17 Apr 1989
The directions that the Intel Corporation will take in the 1990's
will have a very substantial effect on the PC market and the
systems that corporations, clients and hobbyists will be
purchasing. John Nels will be speaking on behave of Intel and the
directions of their product line. 80286, 80386 and 80486 are some
of the numbers that we will be hearing during this seminar. John
will also be speaking on the other Intel products such as the
Inboard systems.
6 pm - Phil Becker - Handling the growing pressure for
multi-user data access.
Database, Electronic Mail, and Bulletin Board applications are
often the major driving forces in going multi-user with computers.
eSoft, Inc. will be discussing its Single CPU, PC-DOS based, dBASE
compatible multi-user system which provides these capabilities for
up to 32 simultaneous users without the hardware or software
complexity of many other approaches.
Saturday - April 29, 1989
10 am - Richard Driggers - Sparta BBS & Great Alabama PCBoard
Hard Drive Seminar
11 am - Gary Saxer - Technical Director - Quarterdeck Systems
Expanded and Extended Memory - What is it? How do you use it?
For PC-DOS computers, the amount of memory you have is not always
as important as what kindof memory it is. Some people wonder how
it can be that they have 2 megabytes of memory and yet they can
only use 640K of it. Gary Saxer, one of the country's top experts
on DOS memory, will explain the differences between Conventional,
Reserved, Extended, Expanded, Enhanced Expanded, and EMS4 memory.
Tips on how to get the best out of your current memory and methods
to improve memory use and availability will be covered. Also,
methods to convert useless memory into memory that DOS can handle
will be explained.
12 pm - Marshall Magee - Founder of the Association of Shareware
Professionals
Marshall Magee will be addressing the seminar on Shareware.
Shareware, which is software that is distributed by the author on a
"pay if you like it basis", provides the many owners of PC
Computers with the golden opportunities to sample many programs to
improve productivity on an individual system, without investing
thousands of dollars in commercially distributed software. Author
of Automenu, one of the most successful shareware programs on the
market, Marshall will further discuss the means of making shareware
work for the programer who is contemplating releasing programs to
the market.
FidoNews 6-16 Page 6 17 Apr 1989
1 pm - John Friel - author of Qmodem telecommunications software
John will be discussing the present state of telecommunications
software with an emphasis on the direction that telecommunications
will be taking in the coming decade.
2 pm - Phil Katz - author of PKZIP file compression routines
Graduate of the University of Wisconsin, 1984-founded PKware in
1986. Conference to include the following discussions: 1.
Overview of data compression: What is data compression? What can
it be used for? Why is it useful? 2. Overview of basic data
compression theory: How does data compress compression work? 3.
History of data compression theory: PDP-11 'RAD50' codes,
Non-Repeat Packing, Weighted Huffman Trees. 4. Description of
modern data compression algorithms: Ziv-Lempel-Welch encoding,
Huffman Squeezing, Repeated String Elimination, Optimal follower
Sets. 5. Demonstration of PKZIP and PKUNZIP, showing the
execution of the algorithms and theory previously discussed.
3 pm - Gus Venditto - Senior Executive Editor - PC Magazine
SHAREWARE IN THE '90s -- CAN IT SURVIVE OS/2?
The Microsoft mulit-tasking juggernaut threatens to change the face
of personal computing. How can the grass-roots shareware movement
continue when corporations are planning to remove DOS from user's
systems? Will shareware be driven back into the garage? Come and
hear Gus Venditto, PC Magazine Executive Editor and author of the
magazine's Pipeline section, report on the future.
4 pm - Bob Wallace - author of PC Write
Bob Wallace, Quicksoft founder (1983) and the person who coined the
term, shareware, will talk about Quicksoft's mission; the
subtleties of shareware, including group shareware; new products
PC-Write 3.0, PC-Look, PC Write Lite, and PC-Write 3.1; and the
future of personal computing, including the myth of the standard
user interface and the holoroom interface.
5 pm - Judy Getts - Contributing Editor - PC World Magazine
Judy Getts, well known for her recent articles in PC World Magazine
for Shareware products, will bediscussing a topic which is always
of interest to the general user group. Recognition and
distribution of programs and software. Each and every day,
hundreds of excellent pieces of software are written and its
authors are trying to seek the most opportune means for
distribution. Judy will be addressing the specific topic of
"recognition of software by software houses". There is no set
formula or procedure to have one's finest program picked up by a
major vendor in the industry, but there are suggestions which Judy
would like to address which will open more opportunities to the
software programer than may have been available in the past.
FidoNews 6-16 Page 7 17 Apr 1989
Sunday - April 30, 1989
8:30 am - Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. - Sysops Breakfast
A special reserved conference limited to 150 people sponsored by
the Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. to present the Impact of
Telecommunications Standards on the BBS Community in addition to
the Hayes SysOp Support Programs and SysOps as Advanced Systems
Value Added Resellers (ASVAR's), and the Hayes Product line.
Tickets will distributed directly at the Hayes booth during GATEWAY
'89.
12 pm - BBS Authors Round Table
Meet the authors and designers of Bulletin Board Software
A seminar and open discussion table with some of the most well
known authors of BBS software as an opportunity to discuss the
future of bulletin boards in the 1990's! Tom Mack - author of RBBS
software David Terry - co-author of PCBoard software Phil Becker -
author of TBBS software Thom Henderson - author of SEAdog software
Rick Hemming - author of Wildcat and Mustang software Ken Goosens -
assisting author of RBBS software Mark Herring - author of Qmail
software Dan Domain - author of DBBS software
2 pm - Gary Saxer - Technical Director - Quarterdeck Systems
Optimizing Telecommunications under Multi-tasking
Many people use DESQview to run several programs at the same time,
often called multi-tasking. Those who use communications programs
along with other programs are especially concerned withperformance
and reliability. Gary Saxer, Director of Technical Services for
Quarterdeck Office Systems, the developers of DESQview, will
explain several tricks and important rules for running
communications programs in the background. Starting with the basic
concepts and proceeding to very technical details, the seminar will
cover both the hardware and software aspects of multi-tasking
communications programs.
3 pm - Jud Newell - Sysop of Canadian Remote Systems
Jud Newell is the owner and chief Sysop of Canada Remote Systems, a
66 node PCBoard system operating out of Toronto, Canada. From a
single line system in 1981, CRS has grown to be one of North
America's largest bulletin boards, and the largest single PCBoard
installation in the world. Jud will talk on what makes a bulletin
board successful, and how you can turn a profit in running one.
With over 7,000 paying subscribers and an annual growth rate of
60%, Jud has a great deal of experience in satisfying customers.
Learn how to make your BBS profitable.
4 pm - Jim Spinelli - Attorney and Sysop of the Activity BBS
(New York)
Jim will be discussing in an open forum the legal operations of a
FidoNews 6-16 Page 8 17 Apr 1989
bulletin board. Many young and old sysops hesitate to realize the
legal responsibilities they have to the public in operating a
public bbs system. Jim will be reviewing the sysop's operations
and the responsibilities that the sysop has to his users as well as
the limitations that the users have on a public bulletin board
system.
5 pm - Marshall MaGee - Founder of the Association of Shareware
Authors
Marshall will be addressing the Sysop's Conference with one of the
most important topics regarding the public bulletin board systems.
The distribution of SHAREWARE and the responsibilities of the BBS
sysops to both the shareware authors and to the general users to
whom they provide the software. Marshall is also the sysop of the
"Big Peach BBS" in Atlanta, Georgia, and a long time modem user.
Marshall will be specifically addressing the future of shareware
distribution in the 1990's on bulletin boards.
6 pm - Close of GATEWAY '89
VISCOUNT HOTEL - QUEENS, NEW YORK - APRIL 28-30, 1989
- All conferences and forums will be held in the Starlight Room
at the Viscount Hotel
Gateway '89 - Seminar Registration & Exhibit
Entrance
I wish to point out to everyone that GATEWAY '89 tickets are to be
ordered in advanced, must be done, via the BBS systems and
networks. If you are calling the Sound of Music BBS directly,
please return to the Main Board, and complete <S>cript #7 right
from the Main Board. You MUST prepay your ticket purchase in order
to receive the advance purchase discount.
Advance Ticket orders must be received by April 17, 1989 for
processing at the advance ticket price of $5.00 (add $1.00 for
handling). All orders received after that date will be returned.
Tickets at the GATEWAY '89 doors will be $10.00. Entrance fees are
specifically for the booth and exhibits of Gateway '89. Conference
tickets are defined as follows.
Conferences and seminars are being sold on a Daily Basis.
The complete up to the latest schedule is posted as the file,
GATFORUM.ZIP available for downloading. The cost of the
conferences is as follows:
Daily Conference Entrance: $30.00 /day
Conference Pass: ALL THREE DAYS: $75.00
FidoNews 6-16 Page 9 17 Apr 1989
Be sure when ordering tickets for an individual conference that you
indicate on your order the SPECIFIC day that you are ordering
tickets for.
Exhibit Hours:
Friday - April 28, 1989 - 12 Noon - 7 pm.
Saturday - April 29, 1989 - 10 AM - 6 pm.
Sunday - April 30, 1989 - 10 AM - 6 pm.
Seminars:
VAR's & Consultants Forum 4/28/89
Phil Katz will be speaking on Saturday 4/29/89.
BBS sysops and telecommunications forum 4/30/89.
PAYMENT MUST ACCOMPANY YOUR ORDER IN ORDER FOR YOUR REQUEST TO BE
PROCESSED. CONFERENCES ARE SOLD ON FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE.
SEATING IS LIMITED! Do not call the Gateway office to order
tickets. Payment must be complete at time of order. Sorry, no
credit cards are accepted for Gateway '89.
If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask
via any of the Smartnet/PCRelay networks which are now carrying the
Gateway Conference. The latest Gateway '89 information is
available via Smartnet, PC Relay GATEWAY conference.
Be sure to visit the conference for the latest information.
Sound of Music BBS (516) 536-8723
GATEWAY '89
Telephone Number (516) 678-7180
NAME:
______________________________________________________________
ADDRESS:
______________________________________________________________
CITY: ___________________________ STATE _________ ZIP_________
DAY TELEPHONE NUMBER: ____________________________
CONFERENCE(S): ALL CONFERENCES ($75.00) NO. OF TICKETS _______
FRIDAY: VAR'S & CONSULTANTS 4/28/89 ($30.00)____
SATURDAY: SHAREWARE & USERS 4/29/89 ($30.00)____
SUNDAY: TELECOMMUNICATIONS &
SYSOPS FORUMS 4/30/89 ($30.00)____
FidoNews 6-16 Page 10 17 Apr 1989
TOTAL NUMBER OF TICKETS: ____
TOTAL ENCLOSED: $_______
MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO:
S.O.M. LTD.
MAIL TO:
GATEWAY '89
119 A NORTH PARK AVENUE
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY. 11570
TELEPHONE NO: (516) 678-7180
Gateway '89 - the TRADESHOW to EDUCATE the CONSUMER !!!
Gateway '89 information is available ELECTRONICALLY 24 hours/day on
the Sound of Music BBS (516) 536-8723
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-16 Page 11 17 Apr 1989
Jack Decker
Fidonet 1:154/8 LCRnet 77:1011/8 NetWork 8:70/8
NEW VERSION OF PAKIT, A UTILITY FOR OMMM USERS
(Plus a suggestion for Nodelist User Flag usage)
A few weeks ago, I placed an announcement about PAKIT in Fidonews.
PAKIT has undergone a couple of revisions since then, however, with
the main changes being that PAKIT can now be used to create
outbound mail archives using the ZOO or ZIP formats, if you have
ZOO.EXE and/or PKZIP.EXE. So, if you use oMMM and have a desire to
use better compression methods when creating mail packets for
certain nodes (and you know those nodes are capable of
uncompressing the mail archives you create for them), you can now
use just about any of the popular compression methods if you use
PAKIT (more on that in a minute).
The question arises, "If I am sending mail to a node that I don't
normally communicate with, how can I tell what types of compressed
mail packets they are able to accept?" In fact, it would be nice to
have this information readily available for any node that we might
wish to communicate with.
A solution to that problem may be at hand. As many of you know,
the Fidonet nodelist now allows User-Defined flags. It would seem
to me that specifying that a node can handle various types of
compressed mail packets would be a valid use for these flags, since
a substantial amount of connect time could be saved if better
compression methods were used between systems capable of doing so.
Unfortunately, different sysops have different ideas about what
constitutes the "best" method of compression. Some prefer to stick
with the "Fidonet standard" ARC file format. Others prefer ZOO
because no payment is requested for using ZOO (unfortunately, ZOO
is one of the least efficient compression methods for mail
packets). Yet others prefer PAK's "Crushing" method, which is much
more efficient, especially on small .PKT files, while some have
found that PKZIP provides the highest possible compression ratio.
Some systems can process incoming mail packets in any of these
formats, while others can only handle one or two of them.
Therefore, I propose that a user-defined flag be set aside for the
purpose of defining types of compressed mail packets accepted by a
node. Something on the order of:
Flag format: UMC:x[x[x]]
U indicates a User Flag, MC stands for "Method of Compression".
The letters following the colon (which could be in any order) would
include one or more of the following:
C = unCrushing supported (PAK) - implies unSquashing &
unCrunching also supported
S = unSquashing supported (PKUNPAK, PKXARC, newer versions
of ARCE) - implies unCrunching also supported
N = unCrunching NOT supported (not valid with C or S)
R = unReducing supported (PKUNZIP)
FidoNews 6-16 Page 12 17 Apr 1989
Z = unZooing supported (ZOO)
Limitations:
C implies unSquashing and unCrunching, so C and S should
NOT be used together
N implies unCrunching NOT supported, therefore it's not
valid in combination with either C or S (at least not
when any existing software that I'm aware of is used,
since anything that will unCrush or unSquash will also
unCrunch).
Samples:
A node that uses PAK, ZOO, and PKUNZIP to process incoming mail
packets would use the flag:
UMC:CRZ
A node (probably a non-MSDOS node) that cannot process regular ARC
style mail packets, but that CAN handle packets compressed with
ZOO, would use the flag:
UMC:NZ
A node that uses ARC or an older version of ARCE that does not
support unSquashing, plus PKUNZIP to process incoming mail packets
would use:
UMC:R
(Note that if the N flag is not used, unCrunching capability is
assumed).
Now, the above is just a proposal. At the present time, PAKIT is
not capable of directly reading the nodelist to obtain this
information. However, if folks were to start using this type of
notation (or if the FTSC were to put their blessing on something
like this), it would make it worthwhile to rewrite PAKIT (or a
similar program) to go directly to the nodelist for this
information, instead of using a separate control file. End of
editorial comment.
Now, back to PAKIT. PAKIT is a free utility program intended for
use with oMMM, although it may work with other mail packers that
call ARCA to create mail archives. Just in case you missed the
article of a few weeks back, here's the pertinent information again
(slightly rewritten to be correct for the latest version):
PAKIT Version 1.04 - a semi-intelligent ARCA to PAK/ZIP/ZOO
Converter for use with oMMM.
No warranty expressed or implied - use at your own risk!
PAKIT was written to allow you to create smaller outgoing mail
FidoNews 6-16 Page 13 17 Apr 1989
archives (*.mo? files, etc.) for systems that can accept them, by
using any of several different file compression utility programs
(PAK, ZOO, and/or PKWARE programs) with oMMM version 1.07 or higher
(it will probably work with earlier versions of oMMM as well, but
you should upgrade anyway! Do NOT use oMMM version 1.08, though,
it was buggy). Those who use oMMM may be aware that oMMM calls
ARCA for file compression purposes. PAKIT intercepts the call to
ARCA, translates it to a format that another file compression
utility can understand, and then hands it over to that utility.
While PAKIT is specifically designed for use with oMMM, it MAY also
work with other packers that call ARCA using the "/D" parameter at
the end of the invocation line.
PAKIT was originally intended to be used with NoGate Consulting's
PAK File Compression Utility, and still defaults to the use of PAK
(it now requires PAK version 1.5 or higher), however you may also
optionally specify that PKWARE's PKARC or PKPAK program is to be
called when creating "Crunched" or "Squashed" mail archives (these
programs are no longer available from PKWARE, but may still be
available on some BBS's). You also have the option of using ZIP
("Reducing") or ZOO as the compression method to be used for mail
packets.
If you use this program and PAK without a PAKIT.CTL file, the
resulting mail archive files should be no different than if you had
just used ARCA only (obviously, there's no real advantage in doing
that, but you can do it if you want to). The major advantage in
using this program is that you can use a control file called
PAKIT.CTL, which will allow you to specify which compression
method, or which of PAK's three possible compression levels, will
be used when packing mail to any given node. Thus, if you KNOW
that a particular node is using PKWARE's PKXARC (or PKUNPAK)
program to de-archive mail packets, you can create mail packets
using "Squashing", which will make smaller packets and possibly
save you some transmission time. If you regularly communicate with
a node that uses PAK to unpack mail, you can create mail bundles
using "Crushing" and save even more disk space and transmission
time. And, the most recent versions of PAKIT will allow you to
create compressed mail bundles using ZOO.EXE or PKWARE's PKZIP
program, should you have a need to send mail bundles in one of
those formats. These options should only be used with nodes with
which you communicate regularly, and know what program is being
used to uncompress mail packets.
The current version of PAKIT renames individual .PKT files prior to
placing them in the mail archive, in order to assure that older
files are always placed before newer ones in the archive. This is
done to overcome a difference in operation between ARCA and
PKARC/PKPAK/PAK 1.0. ARCA always added packets to the END of an
existing archive (as does PAK 1.5+ if the "/O-" modifier is used),
but some of the newer programs do us the favor(?) of inserting new
files into an existing archive in alphabetical order. oMMM creates
packets using a naming sequence that restarts every day, thus
packets created just after midnight would be stored in the archive
BEFORE packets created on the previous day (when one of the newer
archivers is used). The result is that replies to messages are
FidoNews 6-16 Page 14 17 Apr 1989
sometimes stored prior to the original messages when the
destination system unpacks the mail! PAKIT attempts to overcome
this problem by renaming the packets using a naming sequence that
restarts at the beginning of every year, rather than every day.
Thus, it is only possible to create out-of-order mail packets at
the beginning of January. The packet names used contain only the
hexadecimal digits 0-9 and A-F, and are always eight characters
long (not counting the .PKT extension). As far as I can determine,
this will not cause any problem for any existing mail unpacker, but
please let me know if you discover otherwise.
Version 1.04 of PAKIT has just been released, and is compatible
with the newer releases of oMMM (1.30 and higher). Older versions
of PAKIT (before 1.02) will most likely not work properly with the
newer versions of oMMM. The most recent copy of PAKIT should be
file requestable from Fidonet node 1:154/7 (aka LCRnet node
77:1011/7 or NetWork node 8:70/7), under the filename PAKIT*.ZIP
(at this writing, PAKIT104.ZIP is the latest version). 1:154/7 is
a mail-only node located in Milwaukee, and is PC Pursuitable. If
you are located in a PC Pursuitable city and for some reason can't
make a file request work, send me a message and I'll try file
attaching it to you. By the way, there's no copyright notice or
request for payment (or anything else) anywhere in PAKIT. It's a
gift to anyone who wants it, pure and simple!
If you find an archiving program that creates archives that are
even smaller than "Crushed" or "Reduced" files (particularly if
it's truly public domain, or at least free to non-commercial
users), please send a copy of the program to me and I will at least
consider making a version of this program that will use it. Also,
if the Fidonet (or any "other" net) nodelist is ever modified to
include a "compression level" flag for mail archives, I will
consider rewriting this program to look directly to the nodelist
for compression level information.
Jack Decker (1:154/8, 77:1011/8, 8:70/8 <== Don't file request
PAKIT from these addresses, this is a private node!)
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FidoNews 6-16 Page 15 17 Apr 1989
=================================================================
COLUMNS
=================================================================
The Veterinarian's Corner
Excerpts from the ANIMED GroupMail Conference
by Don Thomson, 1:102/1005
The feline leukemia virus is a contagious virus limited to
members of the cat family. It recieved its name, because it is
one of the types of virus' that have the ability to cause cancer
of the white cells.
The disease caused by the feline leukemia virus can take any
number of forms. Because the virus attacks and suppresses the
body's immune response, an increased suseptibility to infections
of all types is commonly one of the first signs. Long standing
'cold' symptoms, repeated abscesses, oral infections, an
increased susceptibility to pneumonia, and other internal
infections may occur.
If the animal recovers from these types of opportunistic
infections, the virus, hidden in the bone marrow and lymph nodes,
begins to manifest itself. The feline leukemia virus (FeLV) has
the ability to become intermingled with the DNA of the primitve,
dividing bone marrow cells. This most commonly manifests itself
as a severe 'aplastic' anemia. Occasionally cancer of the white
cells of the bone marrow (leukocytes) may cause cancer of the
while cells, hence the name 'leukemia' virus. More commonly the
FeLV will cause cancer of the lymph nodes, similar to Hodgkins
Disease of man.
What can be done to prevent this disease?
Because the virus is shed most heavily in the saliva, and to
lessor extent in urine, feces, and tears, limiting 'community'
food bowls from which stray cats of unknown status will decrease
the spread of the virus. If your cat is an outdoor cat,
vaccination is reccommended. The odds are quite high that your
cat will be exposed to the virus as approximately 90% of outdoor
The disease is most prevalent in multiple cat households, where
repeated high-level exposure of virus allows the actual infection
to overwhelm the cat's immune response. Most intermittant, low
level exposures do not result in actual infection. But if you
have more than one cat, they should be tested for 'latent' or
inapparent infection and vaccination. If found to be negative,
then they should be vaccinated. Strictly indoor cats, tested
negative, probably don't require vaccination because this is a
relative fragile virus, not long lived in the environment.
There is no 'cure' for the disease once contracted other than
supportive, symptomatic treatment. The best cure possible for
this killer is prevention.
----------
FidoNews 6-16 Page 16 17 Apr 1989
More on cats:
Cats are not just 'scaled down' versions of humans as far as how
their bodies handle many medications!
For example:
1 Tylenol caplet can kill a cat, by causing the hemoglobin of
the red blood cells to no longer be capable of oxygen binding
and transport! Sad sight....
1 baby aspirin will last up to FOUR DAYS in the bloodstream of
your cat. Overdoses can and DO occur by well-meaning people,
giving their pets human medications.
PLEASE CHECK with a veterinarian BEFORE administering ANY
medication to your cat.
DB Thomson, DVM
1:102/1005
9:871/16
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FidoNews 6-16 Page 17 17 Apr 1989
The following is the first in a series of four columns Fred Grosby
(a federal government employee, and a user on "The Falcon's Rock")
has written. He deserves all the credit for writing them. I
suggested that he upload them to my system, because I enjoyed
reading them in our local Mensa newsletter, Capital M. I hope you
enjoy reading them, too. The archive of all four is available for
file request from 1:109/501 as BSOUTH.ZIP.
Notes From Bureaucracy South
By Fred Grosby, a user on 1:109/501
Well, they're at it again. The Big Program is reorganizing, for
the third time in the six years that I have worked here. It's sort
of like a biennial celebration of the way things go here in
Bureaucracy South.
The first reorganization was in 1983, when The Big Program got a
new head; let's call him Clark. Clark, being thoroughly
Reaganized, was Hell-bent to cut out all of the waste, fraud, and
abuse in The Big Program, increase efficiency, and save you
taxpayers a ton of money. Besides, he figured that if he saved a
lot of money the administration would give him a big cash award.
So he reorganized, saved a lot of money, and got his big cash
award.
He also fragmented the operations of The Big Program so badly that
nobody knew who was supposed to do what. Our regional offices
screamed bloody murder, the workers in The Big Program screamed
bloody murder, and our clients screamed bloody murder,but did that
phase Clark? Not a chance. He knew what to do. He reorganized
again, in late 1985. Ostensibly, the purpose of this
reorganization was to straighten out some of the mess made by the
first reorganization. What it actually did was to take several
smaller offices and mash them together into one great amorphous
mass that was virtually impossible to manage. It also managed to
(Surprise!) save some more money, which got Clark another cash
award.
Now it's 1988. Clark has taken his money and moved on to head one
of our regional offices, where he has taken on a new task:
destroying employee morale. Clark's successor, whose name may not
be mentioned here any more, got fired for reasons that have never
been explained. Personally, I think it was for spending his work
time managing his stock portfolio instead of The Big Program. The
current head of The Big Program is a nice young fellow whom I'll
call Steve. Imagine, a senior executive at age 30. All you have
to do is be good friends with The Assistant Secretary and you, too,
can make it in Bureaucracy South.
So here's Steve, who is no great shakes as a manager, trying to run
this gargantuan mess of an organization, and he's getting in
trouble because he keeps sending The Administrator to the wrong
people for things. Fortunately, fate brought Steve to The Big
Program in late 1987, just in time for him to reorganize the place.
There was a little problem, though. Steve's a political type; he
doesn't really know the nuts and bolts of the program that he's
FidoNews 6-16 Page 18 17 Apr 1989
managing. So, as much in self-defense as anything else, he turned
the job over to his assistant, Beverly. Not only is Beverly one of
my favorite people, she's also a fabulous manager. She has also
worked in The Big Program forever, and knows where all the bodies
are buried. So she analyzed, and discussed, and consulted, and
came up with what I knew that she was going to come up with all
along. Yes, folks, we're putting it back the way it was in 1983,
B.C. (Before Clark).
There was only one problem: explaining the cost increase to The
Department, which must approve the reorganization. According to
the official formula mandated by The Department, we are about to
spend an additional $83,000 per year of your tax money. Actually,
it's going to be more like $1.5 million, but who are we to tell The
Department that their formula has a flaw in it? Either way, we
figured that we were in for a fight.
You know what? The Department didn't bat an eye. There are a
couple of technical details to work out, but the guy at The
Department who handles reorganizations has assured me that the
reorganization of The Big Program will be approved. He told me
that as far as The Department is concerned, it's our budget, and if
we want to spend the money on our reorganization, that's our
business. And Reagan doesn't think that he's presiding over a lame
duck administration. If we would have tried this six years ago
they would have eaten our lunch.
So, in a few weeks The Big Program will be right back the way it
started. Offhand, you might say that the only one who benefited
from all the fuss and bother was Clark, who took the money and ran.
There is, however, one other winner in this game: me. You see,
I'm the one who processed the 1983 and 1985 reorganizations and is
processing this one. Each reorganization takes, say, four months
to process. Then there are all of the followup actions, the record
keeping, and the reviews to do, by which time it's almost time to
start thinking about the next reorganization. Steve is a political
appointee. He will be gone by the end of the year, and what do you
want to bet that his successor doesn't reorganize again? And guess
who'll be there to do it? This, folks, is called job security,
which is a whole lot more important to me than the few bucks that
Clark got.
No matter what they do to The Big Program, I win. You have to take
your victories where you find them here in Bureaucracy South.
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FidoNews 6-16 Page 19 17 Apr 1989
=================================================================
LATEST VERSIONS
=================================================================
Latest Software Versions
Bulletin Board Software
Name Version Name Version Name Version
Fido 12k* Opus 1.03b TBBS 2.1
QuickBBS 2.03 TPBoard 5.0 TComm/TCommNet 3.4*
Lynx 1.22 Phoenix 1.3 RBBS 17.1D
Network Node List Other
Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version
Dutchie 2.90C* EditNL 4.00 ARC 6.01*
SEAdog 4.50* MakeNL 2.12 ARCmail 2.0*
BinkleyTerm 2.20* Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00
D'Bridge 1.18* XlatList 2.90* TPB Editor 1.21
FrontDoor 2.0 XlaxNode 2.32* TCOMMail 2.1*
PRENM 1.40 XlaxDiff 2.32* TMail 8901*
ParseList 1.30 UFGATE 1.03*
GROUP 2.07*
EMM 1.40
MSGED 1.99*
XRS 1.2*
* Recently changed
Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by
reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list
all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-16 Page 20 17 Apr 1989
=================================================================
NOTICES
=================================================================
The Interrupt Stack
28 Apr 1989
Start of Gateway '89 show at the Viscount Hotel in Queens,
New York. Contact Gateway '89 at (516) 678-7180 for info.
8 May 1989
Digital Equipment Corporations User Society (DECUS) will be
holding its semi-annual symposium in Atlanta, GA. Runs
through May 12. As usual sysop's will get together and chat.
19 May 1989
Start of EuroCon III at Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Contact
Hans Ligthelm of 2:500/3 for details.
24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
24 Aug 1989
FidoCon '89 starts at the Holiday Inn in San Jose,
California. Trade show, seminars, etc. Contact 1/89
for info.
5 Oct 1989
20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
11 Nov 1989
A new area code forms in northern Illinois at 12:01 am.
Chicago proper will remain area code 312; suburban areas
formerly served with that code will become area code 708.
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-16 Page 21 17 Apr 1989
OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION
Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 Chairman of the Board
Bob Rudolph 1:261/628 President
Matt Whelan 3:3/1 Vice President
Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Vice President-Technical Coordinator
Linda Grennan 1:147/1 Secretary
Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Treasurer
IFNA COMMITTEE AND BOARD CHAIRS
Administration and Finance Mark Grennan 1:147/1
Board of Directors Mort Sternheim 1:321/109
Bylaws Don Daniels 1:107/210
Ethics Vic Hill 1:147/4
Executive Committee Bob Rudolph 1:261/628
International Affairs Rob Gonsalves 2:500/1
Membership Services David Drexler 1:147/1
Nominations & Elections David Melnick 1:107/233
Public Affairs David Drexler 1:147/1
Publications Rick Siegel 1:107/27
Security & Individual Rights Jim Cannell 1:143/21
Technical Standards Rick Moore 1:115/333
IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIVISION AT-LARGE
10 Courtney Harris 1:102/732 Don Daniels 1:107/210
11 Bill Allbritten 1:11/301 Mort Sternheim 1:321/109
12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Mark Grennan 1:147/1
13 Irene Henderson 1:107/9 (vacant)
14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Ted Polczyinski 1:154/5
15 Scott Miller 1:128/12 Matt Whelan 3:3/1
16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628
17 Neal Curtin 1:343/1 Steve Jordan 1:206/2871
18 Andrew Adler 1:135/47 Kris Veitch 1:147/30
19 David Drexler 1:147/1 (vacant)
2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 David Melnik 1:107/233
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FidoNews 6-16 Page 22 17 Apr 1989
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